An electrolysis process (an electrolytic treatment) is a technology used for various treatments such as, for example, a plating treatment or an etching treatment.
Such a plating treatment is performed by, for example, a plating apparatus disclosed in Patent Document 1. The plating apparatus includes a plating bath that stores a plating liquid, and the interior of the plating bath is partitioned by a regulation plate. An anode is arranged in one partitioned section, and an object to be processed (a substrate) (“workpiece”) is immersed in the other section so that a potential distribution between the anode and the workpiece is adjusted by the regulation plate. Then, after the workpiece is immersed in the plating liquid within the plating bath, a voltage is applied using the anode as a positive pole and the workpiece as a negative pole so that a current flows between the anode and the workpiece. The plating treatment is performed by moving the metal ions in the plating liquid to the workpiece side by the current, and then precipitating the metal ions as a plated metal at the workpiece side.
Also, for example, in a plating apparatus disclosed in Patent Document 2, the plating liquid is stirred and circulated within a plating bath while a plating treatment is performed on a workpiece is subjected to a plating treatment.